1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a data processing method for a time-optimized calculation of a large number of result data sets at the end of a period.
2. Description of the Prior Art
From prior art it is known that, at particular times of the day, large amounts of data have to be processed regularly on mainframe computer systems of large enterprises. Such data accruing regularly in large amounts will occur, for instance, when, in the course of a business day, the data of transactions that have taken place have been collected. At the end of a business day, these data are processed in a so-called end of day processing.
The information accruing during the individual business processes is collected in the fields of data sets that are stored in files.
The processing of such a file may, for instance, be the performance of the booking processes necessary for the business process, or the administration of a data stock, which have to be processed by a further system. Processing usually does not or not exclusively take place on the computers on which the data are collected and the files are created. Instead, the files are transferred to a central computer for processing, where the files that have been created in many similar systems are collected and processed centrally. In these central systems, the corresponding accounts of the parties participating in a business process are also kept, so that all the data pertaining to the business processes are merged at one central point in the central system.
It is often necessary to process the data sets collected in the course of a business day within a predetermined time slot so as to ensure that, for instance, particular booking processes are terminated on the same business day. Therefore, the files are transferred to and processed in the central computer at such an early time that a processing of the data on the same day is guaranteed. The result of this is that the data are transferred to the central system not before the end of a day and that the central system has to process the data by the end of the day. The processing comprises, for instance, the recording of business processes as a booking process into an account, or the recording of a transaction into an account, so that one or several transactions have to be recorded for one account.
It is further known that, at the end of particular periods, for instance at the end of a month, a quarter, or a year, particular final processings have to be performed on such mainframe computer systems to establish e.g. financial statements for the period of time that is just ending. For regular current accounts, for instance, a monthly financial statement has to be established at the end of a month, quarterly financial statements have to be established at the end of a quarter, and, at the end of a year, the respective annual financial statement additionally has to be established e.g. for the savings accounts, where, for instance, the interests for the ending year are calculated and booked into the account. To this end, software modules available on the mainframe computer system are started. These software modules calculate, for instance, first of all the medium balance of a savings account for the ending period so as to determine, as a function thereof, the fees that are due. By means of the interest numbers, the interests for the given period are calculated. Likewise, a further software module determines, for instance, the account management charges for the same period. The values determined such are then booked as transactions into the respective account. These transactions are thus not supplied to the mainframe computer system from outside as a business process in the scope of the daily business, but are generated on the mainframe computer itself by software modules running there. The booking of these transactions that are generated by the mainframe computer system itself is, however, identical to the booking of the transactions supplied to the system from outside and is performed by the same software modules.
At the end of such a period, the amount of data accruing daily thus has to be processed, on the one hand, which is performed in a so-called end of day processing, and, on the other hand, the financial statements of accounts and the like required at the end of the respective periods have to be established, which are referred to as end of month, or end of quarter, or end of year processing.
With respect to the end of day processing and the end of month, end of quarter, or end of year processing, it has to be noted that they cannot be performed independently of each other. All the results, i.e. bookings and transactions, that took place on the last day of the respective period will not only have to be taken into consideration on this very day in the end of day processing, but also for the final processing for the period that is just ending since the business processes are not just part of to this very day, but also of the period. Consequently, the end of month, end of quarter, or end of year processing can only take place when the end of day processing of the respectively preceding days has been terminated.
If the end of month, end of quarter, or end of year processing starts before the end of day processing has been terminated, there will be the risk that, for instance, a business process for an account is booked only after the calculation of the end of month, end of quarter, or end of year processing for this account and is thus not taken into consideration there. The results of the end of month, end of quarter, or end of year processing would thus be incorrect.
To ensure that all the business processes of one day are not only taken into consideration in the end of day processing, but also in the end of month, end of quarter, or end of year processing, it would be possible to start the end of month, end of quarter, or end of year processing only when the end of day processing has been terminated.
This might result in that the end of month, end of quarter, or end of year processing is started only shortly before the end of the last day of the ending period and thus can, due to the large amount of data, not be terminated prior to the end of the day and thus not in time. However, there exists the necessity that a monthly, quarterly or annual financial statement e.g. of an account has to be terminated by the end of the respective period.